Firefighter strategy for electric vehicles

[wyomingosualum]

Talked to my fire chief buddy the other day and learned something that I thought was interesting. These lithium batteries refuse to die once they catch fire. You need like 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire. And even then, you’re not guaranteed that it won’t catch fire again once you get it to the impound lot.

He said that New York City has so many of these vehicles that it is justified to have basically a large truck mounted dumpster and a front end loader. Scoop up the burning EV, drop it into the container so it can’t spread and drive it to the dump or whatever.

So the best strategy may be to just let the fire use up all the fuel and burn itself out. Anyway, just thought you guys would find that interesting as well.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Talked to my fire chief buddy the other day and learned something that I thought was interesting. These lithium batteries refuse to die once they catch fire. You need like 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire. And even then, you’re not guaranteed that it won’t catch fire again once you get it to the impound lot.

He said that New York City has so many of these vehicles that it is justified to have basically a large truck mounted dumpster and a front end loader. Scoop up the burning EV, drop it into the container so it can’t spread and drive it to the dump or whatever.

So the best strategy may be to just let the fire use up all the fuel and burn itself out. Anyway, just thought you guys would find that interesting as well.

NYC has had quite a few of those fires from batteries on those electric bicycles. Was on the news a week or so ago.

 

[22LR]

Gotta love "green". They're saving the planet.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Fire that killed 4 at NYC e-bike store was caused by lithium ion batteries, fire commissioner says​

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/us/nyc-ebike-store-fire-lithium-ion-batteries/index.html

 

[JimmyBob]

Gotta love "green". They're saving the planet.

Uh, blue font next time.

 

[Headhunter]

So the environmentalists are going to destroy the planet mining rare earth metals needed to make the batteries that are needed to make the EV's that are going to save the planet.

Plus there is no environmentally friendly way to dispose of the billions of batteries that will be needed.

What could go wrong with a great plan like that?

 

[Sunburnt Indian]

So the environmentalists are going to destroy the planet mining rare earth metals needed to make the batteries that are needed to make the EV's that are going to save the planet.

Plus there is no environmentally friendly way to dispose of the billions of batteries that will be needed.

What could go wrong with a great plan like that?

How long do you expect it to take before one of the slow 13 will provide the answer for us?

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

How bout them phones that explode in folks faces?

 

[aix_xpert]

Talked to my fire chief buddy the other day and learned something that I thought was interesting. These lithium batteries refuse to die once they catch fire. You need like 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire. And even then, you’re not guaranteed that it won’t catch fire again once you get it to the impound lot.

He said that New York City has so many of these vehicles that it is justified to have basically a large truck mounted dumpster and a front end loader. Scoop up the burning EV, drop it into the container so it can’t spread and drive it to the dump or whatever.

So the best strategy may be to just let the fire use up all the fuel and burn itself out. Anyway, just thought you guys would find that interesting as well.

Your numbers are higher than what I've read, but the premise is right. A standard ICE car engine takes about 150-300 gallons of water to extinquish. EVs take 10-20x that (or 3000 to 6000 gallons) and that doesn't eliminate the reignition risk. The biggest issue here is that fire trucks only carry 300-1000 gallons of water, which was plenty for ICE engines but is whoafully inadequate for EVs. So now when an EV catches fire, it takes 3-5 trucks and the corresponding personnel to extinguish.

But hey, progress!

 

[07pilt]

So the environmentalists are going to destroy the planet mining rare earth metals needed to make the batteries that are needed to make the EV's that are going to save the planet.

Plus there is no environmentally friendly way to dispose of the billions of batteries that will be needed.

What could go wrong with a great plan like that?

Lol

 

[skylinepoke]

Lol

Plus, where will the old batteries be stored as they expire?
I guess they can be thrown in the strip mines after the minerals have been depleted.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

Plus, where will the old batteries be stored as they expire?
I guess they can be thrown in the strip mines after the minerals have been depleted.

Pilt might have a stake in the Chineese and Bolivian mines. Along with musk?

 

[aix_xpert]

What's the plan for all these cars in 12 years? Battery packs have a limited life of about 10 years. The AVERAGE age of a car on American streets today is 12.2 years. After 10 years, is everyone just buying a new EV and scrapping their old car? Or are people planning to replace the battery pack thus incurring a 10K repair for a car likely not worth half that?

 

[2012Bearcat]

Your numbers are higher than what I've read, but the premise is right. A standard ICE car engine takes about 150-300 gallons of water to extinquish. EVs take 10-20x that (or 3000 to 6000 gallons) and that doesn't eliminate the reignition risk. The biggest issue here is that fire trucks only carry 300-1000 gallons of water, which was plenty for ICE engines but is whoafully inadequate for EVs. So now when an EV catches fire, it takes 3-5 trucks and the corresponding personnel to extinguish.

But hey, progress!

Son's best friend is a firefighter. He said their MO is to just let the EV burn and contain the fire until the EV exhaust whatever is burning. Sure makes you wonder about parking a EV in the garage.

 

[07pilt]

Plus, where will the old batteries be stored as they expire?
I guess they can be thrown in the strip mines after the minerals have been depleted.

Lmao

 

[wyomingosualum]

Plus, where will the old batteries be stored as they expire?
I guess they can be thrown in the strip mines after the minerals have been depleted.

Lmao

I hadn’t thought about this before.

Everything You Need to Know about Electric-Car Battery Recycling

This is what happens when your electric car's battery pack reaches the end of its life.

www.caranddriver.com